In the late 1880's Pauline Gelner, my Maternal Grandmother, was sold into servitude to a old woman who lived in St. Louis.or Chicago. Little Pauline was accompanied to America by her older brothers, who had a deal with the old lady that they could "buy" her back for what she had borrowed.  The brothers went to work immediately and sent for their Mother and a younger brother.. A few years later with the amount  of money borrowed my great grandmother went to see the lady and my Grandmother...  This is when she was refused entrance and denied even the sight of little Pauline. Instead she was given a bill,

      Never having children of her own she decided to raise her young ward as her own.  Fancy pinafores over her tailor made little girl dresses.  Very expensive and not for the children of the poor immigrants Great Grandmother didn't know she was one of them.  She was told of the broken and crying woman, being a Gypsy who was there to steal the child away and was instructed to run and hide if the "washer woman" was ever seen again. It wasn't until she was 17 and the old lady laying on her death bed that the washer woman was in fact her Mother.  I was told my Great Grandmother died of a broken Heart, never having seen her daughter except for stolen glances from afar... This was told to her by her older brothers who brought her to America.  She was taken to Minnesota where her sisters and other family welcomed her and she lived for a short time with her siblings until she met my Grandfather Harry Tallada......